Minnesota Prison and Your Kids: What Families Face

I did not serve my time in Minnesota. I served 66 months in the federal system, at FCI Miami, and I want to be clear about that from the start. What I know about Minnesota comes from thirteen years of helping families navigate incarceration from the outside, not from a cell in any MN DOC facility.

But I want to lead with something that is not true in most states.

In Minnesota, phone calls from state prisons are free. Not reduced. Not capped at a lower rate. Free -- to the person calling and to you. Since July 1, 2023, the Minnesota Department of Corrections has made all calls from its adult facilities available at no cost. You do not need to set up a prepaid account. You do not need to maintain a balance. When a person inside calls you, the call goes through.

I spent 66 months paying for phone calls that cost my family money we didn't have to spare. Every family in every state I have written about in this series has had to set up accounts and manage balances and worry about running out of minutes at the wrong moment. Minnesota removed that burden.

That matters. It matters in dollars, and it matters in what it communicates to families: that staying in contact is a priority the system is willing to pay for. If your person is in a Minnesota DOC facility, use the phone. Use it often. It costs you nothing.

Here is what I know about Minnesota, and here is what I know about the part that never changes.

What the Minnesota system looks like

The Minnesota Department of Corrections -- MN DOC -- oversees the state's adult correctional facilities. The official website is mn.gov/doc. To search for an incarcerated person, use the offender search tool at mn.gov/doc. MN DOC headquarters: 1450 Energy Park Drive, Suite 200, St. Paul, MN 55108. Main line: 651-361-7200.

Major MN DOC facilities include: MCF-Stillwater, MCF-Oak Park Heights (maximum security), MCF-St. Cloud, MCF-Faribault, MCF-Lino Lakes, MCF-Moose Lake, MCF-Shakopee (women), MCF-Willow River, MCF-Red Wing (youth), and MCF-Togo.

Phone: All calls from MN DOC state facilities are free -- to both the person inside and to you. You do not need a prepaid account or funds to receive calls. The system uses GTL/ViaPath (ConnectNetwork), but no balance is required. As of May 14, 2025, a 15-minute wait period applies between completed calls (except at MCF-Red Wing), to ensure everyone has access to the phones. You cannot call the incarcerated person directly -- they call you.

Note: If your person is housed in a county jail or a facility outside MN DOC (not all Minnesota inmates are in state facilities), that facility uses its own system and may charge for calls. Confirm with the specific facility.

Email: The MN DOC uses JPay for electronic messaging. Set up a free account at jpay.com or through the JPay mobile app. The person inside uses JPay kiosks or tablets to send and receive messages. You purchase "stamps" to send messages; the incarcerated person can respond at no cost. You can also attach photos for an additional stamp per attachment. JPay customer support: 800-574-5729.

Videograms: You can send 30-second video clips through the JPay mobile app. Videograms are reviewed before delivery to ensure they meet MN DOC standards. Visit jpay.com for more information.

Visitation: As of August 4, 2025, the MN DOC moved to an electronic visiting application process. Contact the Visiting Application Unit at 320-358-0466 for questions about the new process. You must be on the approved visitor list before visiting. The incarcerated person initiates the process by adding your name; you then complete the electronic application.

Visiting hours and schedules vary by facility. Generally, visitors driving less than 100 miles one way are registered for 1 to 2 hour visits. Visitors driving more than 100 miles one way may request an extended visit -- this must be initiated by the incarcerated person 7 to 10 days before the visit. There is no visiting on state recognized holidays (New Year's Day, MLK Day, President's Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, July 4, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and the following Friday, Christmas Day).

No information about an incarcerated person's visiting list will be given over the phone. To get that information, present a photo ID at any MCF location.

Mail: As of November 1, 2024, the MN DOC uses TextBehind for regular (unprivileged) mail processing. Do NOT send regular mail to the facility address. Send it to the TextBehind processing center:

First Name / Last Name, and OID

MCF-[facility name], Minnesota (do not abbreviate Minnesota)

P.O. Box 247

Phoenix, MD 21131

TextBehind scans the mail and delivers a printed copy to the person inside. TextBehind does not accept legal mail, money orders, personal checks, gift cards, or cash -- those will be returned. Magazine subscriptions and books should still be sent directly to the facility address, not to TextBehind.

Books: As of April 30, 2026, approved book vendors for MN DOC include Books N Things (booksnthingswarehouse.com) and Hamilton Books (hamiltonbook.com/online_catalogs). Books can also be purchased directly from approved publishers. Books must be new and shipped directly from approved vendors.

Money: As of January 6, 2025, all incoming money deposits are processed through the MN DOC Office of Financial Management (OFM) at a central location. Options include: JPay online at jpay.com; MoneyGram using receive code 1279; money order made payable to JPay, P.O. Box 246450, Pembroke Pines, FL 33024 (include inmate's name on the money order); or lobby kiosks at some facilities. Note: Incarcerated people may not receive money from other incarcerated individuals, people on paper supervision, or patients in secure treatment facilities.

MN DOC: mn.gov/doc. Main line: 651-361-7200. Visiting Application Unit: 320-358-0466. JPay customer support: 800-574-5729.

The children in it

Free phone calls change the texture of a sentence for children.

When calling costs money, there is a calculation every time. Do we have enough in the account? Is the balance going to last the week? Can we afford a longer call, or do we cut it short? Those calculations land on children too, even when the outside parent tries to shield them. Children feel when a call ends faster than it should.

When calls are free, that calculation disappears. The call lasts as long as it needs to. The person inside can call more often. The connection can be maintained in smaller, more frequent moments rather than rationed across a week's worth of minutes.

That matters most for the youngest children -- the 9s, 10s, 11s. The youngest cannot place the explanation for a parent's absence anywhere except inside themselves. They build a private story, and the story almost always implicates them. The more calls that happen, the more chances there are to displace that story with something true: this is not your fault. I love you. I am still your parent. You have to say those words until they take hold. In Minnesota, there is no cost to saying them as many times as they need to be said.

My kids ranged from 9 to 20 when I went in. Six of them. What each age needed was different.

The middle-school ones are managing difference. A parent in prison makes them different, and they feel that difference every day. They need a parent who knows their actual life -- who asks about the teacher by name, who remembers what happened at the game, who is paying attention to them rather than broadcasting from their own situation. Free calls make that easier because the calls can happen more naturally, without the weight of cost attached to each one.

The teenagers see everything and will test whether you are real. A lecture from inside is the fastest way to lose them. Ask a genuine question. Listen to the whole answer. Hold the opinions you cannot act on. The relationship is worth more than being right.

The young adults are choosing. What you do from inside is the only argument that counts.

What the outside parent carries

Minnesota has removed one of the heaviest recurring costs that outside parents carry: the phone bill. That is a real thing. It does not make the sentence easier in every sense -- it does not close the distance to Stillwater or Faribault or Moose Lake, it does not make the visiting application simpler, it does not make the mail scanning process intuitive the first time. But it removes a financial drain that, for many families, was ongoing and significant.

My wife managed 66 months of the full weight: the phone account, the drives, the six children, the household, the decision every single day to protect the relationship between me and our kids rather than poison it. She did that without ever saying a word against me to our children. I came home to a family that still wanted me there because she made that choice every time.

If you are that person in Minnesota right now, you have one less thing to manage financially than families in most other states. The rest of it is still there -- the visits, the mail, the money for commissary, the emotional weight. But the phone is free. Use it.

The practical list for Minnesota families

Phone: Free. No account or balance required. GTL/ViaPath system. Person inside calls you -- you cannot call them. 15-minute wait between calls (except MCF-Red Wing) as of May 14, 2025. Note: county jails and non-MN DOC facilities may still charge for calls.

Email: JPay at jpay.com or the JPay mobile app. Create a free account and purchase stamps to send messages. Photos can be attached for one additional stamp. Videograms (30-second video clips) available through the JPay app. JPay support: 800-574-5729.

Visitation: Electronic application process (as of August 4, 2025). Questions: Visiting Application Unit at 320-358-0466. Must be on approved list before visiting. Extended visits (100+ miles one way) must be initiated by person inside 7-10 days in advance. No visits on state recognized holidays. No visiting list information given over the phone -- bring photo ID to any MCF.

Mail (regular): Send to TextBehind, NOT the facility:

[First Name Last Name] and OID

MCF-[facility name], Minnesota

P.O. Box 247, Phoenix, MD 21131

No legal mail, money orders, cash, gift cards to TextBehind -- those go elsewhere.

Magazine subscriptions and books: send directly to the facility.

Books: Approved vendors as of April 30, 2026: Books N Things (booksnthingswarehouse.com) and Hamilton Books (hamiltonbook.com). Direct from approved publishers also allowed. New books only, shipped direct.

Money: JPay at jpay.com; MoneyGram (receive code 1279); money order payable to JPay, P.O. Box 246450, Pembroke Pines, FL 33024 (include inmate's name); lobby kiosks at some facilities. All deposits processed centrally by OFM as of January 6, 2025.

Inmate search: mn.gov/doc.

MN DOC: mn.gov/doc. Main line: 651-361-7200. HQ: 1450 Energy Park Drive, Suite 200, St. Paul, MN 55108.

Where this leaves you

Minnesota has done something most states have not: it made staying connected financially free at the most basic level. Phone calls cost nothing. That is worth saying clearly, and it is worth using.

The other systems -- email, visits, mail -- require some setup and some learning. The mail now goes to a scanning center in Maryland, not to the facility. The visiting application moved online in August 2025. These are adjustments. They are manageable.

The child in Minnesota waiting to hear from a parent in a DOC facility has an advantage most children in this series do not: the phone can ring without anyone calculating whether the balance will hold. That is not a small thing.

I came home from 66 months to a family that was still whole. Both sides kept building it from wherever they were. In Minnesota, the phone is one fewer barrier between you and the person you love.

Do the work. It is the whole thing.

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